“It’s all about creating a community, which is the biggest thing,” Methven Ute Muster co-ordinator Loganne Brown says. Photo / RNZ, Anisha Satya
By Mark Leishman of RNZ
The trusty ute holds a strangely unique position in New Zealand’s economy.
Loved and loathed in equal measure, the ubiquitous utility vehicle – with its tray on the back – has, in the past decade, often ranked among New Zealand’s best-selling vehicles.
In 2025, four out of 10 new vehicles sold were utes.
The legend goes that in 1932, a farmer’s wife in Victoria, Australia, wrote to the vehicle maker Ford requesting “a vehicle that could take us to church on Sunday and carry our pigs to market on Monday.”
When Ford Australia designer Lewis Bandt created the Ford Model 40 coupe with an integrated tray at the back, released in 1934, the trusty ute was born.
The Methven A&P show pays homage to the ute each year with its Ute Muster, when rows of utes of every size and shape line up to be judged.
They range from Morris Minors, HG Holdens and Datsun 1200 pickups to the big bush-whacking variety with tyres that can take you anywhere, snorkels for fording rivers and winches to pull you out of trouble.
Utes evolved over many years, reflecting changing times, particularly on-farm but also in the city, Ute Muster judge Grant Reith told RNZ’s Country Life.
“After the horse and cart and traction engines came tractors, then people wanted something a wee bit more versatile.
“Land Rovers and Jeeps played their part after the war.”
He said trucks were for farm use or farm-related jobs in town.
“When the Toyotas arrived with four-wheel-drive, a lot of people started to use their ute as a second car, so one half could go in one direction on Saturday with the kids playing rugby, and the other half go in the other direction playing their netball or hockey.”
One of the stars at the muster was the oldest and smallest ute – a restored 1950s Morris utility truck which once belonged to Burnett’s, the Mid Canterbury transport company.
Josh Hood and Jerry Power were repainting the vehicle when the original branding on the door was uncovered, inspiring its restoration.
“It’s just keeping the legacy going of these awesome old companies, and it’s just a good bit of history, so no one forgets they existed,” Hood told Country Life.
The muster included a “Hers Not His” category for the growing number of female ute drivers.
Many are attracted by their comfort, safety features and the versatility of modern double-cab models.
“It’s really about trying to give chicks in the area their own space and trying to show them that it’s not just a boys’ world, and girls and women have the opportunity to actually show off what they have,” organiser Loganne Brown said.
“They’re incredibly practical.
“It’s also a lot to do with farming with a lot more women coming into agriculture, which is fantastic, and just getting out there four-wheel driving, overlanding, camping.
“There are also many clubs like Chics Off Road and New Zealand Girls 4x4 that are New Zealand-wide and in Aussie too.
“It’s all about creating a community, which is the biggest thing.”
But with the surging petrol cost, the use of the vehicle for leisure and commuting is becoming unaffordable for many, she said.
“A lot of us are getting stuck between rent, groceries and fuel now, because fuel is so much more expensive.
“There are a lot of my mates who were going to be coming up from Alexandra, and some from Nelson, and they have just had to pull out because they just can’t afford it.”
Amy Ingram found her 2012 Ford Ranger, her first ute, in the North Island and “with no idea how to drive a manual”, she made it down south.
“I’ve got a team of four working dogs.
“I really enjoy the ute scene and going off-roading, adventuring, and I can tow a horse float behind it too.”
The youngest ute owner at the muster, 16-year-old Mount Hutt College student Emma Kinzett, started working towards her dream vehicle, an early 2000s Ford Courier, when she was just 13 years old.
“I had three jobs, a couple on farms, another one cleaning on Thursdays, and I have been saving up for years,” she said.
“I was scrolling on Trade Me one day, and it came up, and I’d been looking for a truck, and it kind of looked perfect, so on my birthday I went out and had a look at it, and it’s just what I imagined it would be.”
Kinzett’s “absolute dream” was to become a shepherd, a goal which could be made possible with her trusty ute and its crate on the back for the dogs.
“A neighbour was speaking to my mum, ‘I always see your daughter cleaning her truck.’ Yeah, that’s me.”
- RNZ